Google+ Custom URL, Declined

I could have been more than a number on Google+.

I could have become +MarkRoth.

I said, “Nope, no deal!”

After scanning through the various TOS (“Terms of Service,” you know), I decided to go for it. Then I hesitated again when I saw this was free for now only and might cost me something later. But I kept on going.

Then Google required my cell phone number. Required! 😯

Forget that!

Look, I have no doubt they already have my cell phone number. But not because I voluntarily gave them that info.

So I decided to let one of the other Mark Roths have that distinctive personal profile URL. I’ve no doubt I was the first Mark Roth on the Web. That’s my URL, OK? 🙄

Come to think of it, though, if I wouldn’t put a similar vanity plate on my vehicles, why would I want to stroke my vanity with a Google+ personal URL? Because I still struggle with vanity and pride, I suppose. 😳

Better not feed that. But I was still going to get it. What stopped me wasn’t humility but my privacy-and-security-induced stubbornness about giving Go-Ogle my cell phone number. 🙁